Wear Our Frailty As a Badge

October 22

“And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong,” II Corinthians 12:7-10.

One of the most-often-expressed criticisms of the belief maintained by many Christians that Jesus still heals today, as the words, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever,” Hebrews 13:8, suggest is that if He is changeless, if He still heals, why do people remain sick when they’re prayed for? Why do people die when the prayer of faith is lifted in their behalf?

Although it is presumptuous to speak for God or to answer those questions in His behalf, and although the reasons why some individuals are delivered from sickness and trial while others remain afflicted are certainly as varied as the numbers of people who seek the power of Christ to be manifested in their lives, we certainly can glean some insight from the experience of Paul as he expresses it in the above passage.

And we know that it isn’t just in the matter of healing from disease that the seeming discrepancy occurs. We think of Stephen, the first Christian martyr (see Acts 6:1-8, 7:54 to 8:2) who was stoned to death because of his faith in Jesus, as well as countless others who have perished because they would not deny their faith in the Savior. As recently as the news in 2014, we have been made aware of the horrific fate of believers in the Lord who were slain for no reason but their Christianity.

Yet we also know that had He done so, God could have delivered all of them, from Stephen through the most recent believer in Jesus to suffer martyrdom. So, why didn’t He? In the example given to us of Stephen, we discover that a glorious fate awaited him upon his arrival to the Throne Room of Heaven. We are told that Jesus was standing to welcome him upon his entrance into glory.

We can speculate that the same reception was given to every martyr subsequent to the first one. We can venture a guess that none of them would have exchanged a few more years of life for the wonders of Heaven that have been theirs since they took their final breath while in this land of strife among men.

Like them, many of us have been called upon to bear grievous burdens. As He said to Paul, Jesus reiterates to us that He is glorified in our infirmities. As Paul accepted his weaknesses with the words, “I boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses.”

May we also wear our frailty as a badge of honor that evidences the power of Christ in us to overcome every trial, to break every chain, to lift every weight we bear—all to the honor of His holy name.